Deadpan Photography

To my untrained eye, this is where the photographer uses either landscape, human model or industry etc and removes human emotion from the image.

The natural "coldness" generated by non emotional content within in the image is its strength. As a photographer I find it strange I have been producing thisa kind of image for many years. The difference being to me, the image became more about the subject than the emotion showed.

If a portrait is focal point is the eyes(the most important to me of any portrait), the emotion is taken from the face, it creates more questions than answers which is what I have always loved about my photography. I also believe people overall have a great tendency to empathise, these images at first glance could show great pain. This may be part of the intital draw to the image.

With landscape and industry, it is the lack of human prescence and the change implemented to the landscape etc which has the same effect, as an emotionless set of eyes.

Image copyright Bob Thacker

This is an image I took several years ago, which for a press shot which was never used. However the image as a fascinating back story which I wonder if I showed publically how many people would be able to gauge an idea of?

The story was about a boxing club attached to a public house which was useing boxing as a way of directing children with emotional and anger problems a different outlet. It had been sucessful and deserved in the eyes of the editer regional press coverage.

However the chosen model was this lad, son of the publican. Who was missing at the time I arrived as he had just tried to set fire to the pub and run away.

On his return I took this image. The only input from myself was I placed him in a pair of adult oversized boxing gloves and used the ropes as natural framing to exagerate the size of his fists compared to his small statue.

Andreas Gursky is probably the most different of this style of photographers using large format cameras and computer manipulation to create large spaces of activity. His images are designed for the gallery or the book, blown to vast sizes. Creating the kind of response that makes a viewer wish to return as there is far too much to see unless given many viewings.

I feel "Deadpan" describes lack of life or emotion. Wether empty landscape, industrial scene or a portrait with "empty eyes"